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Ferguson protesters across U.S. take to streets

By Sadie Gurman, The Associated Press

Tues., Nov. 25, 2014

People protesting the Ferguson, Mo., grand jury decision took to the streets in cities across the U.S. for a second day Tuesday, showing that the racially charged case has inflamed tensions thousands of miles from the predominantly black St. Louis suburb.

Peaceful demonstrators marched in Seattle and Albuquerque and disrupted traffic in St. Louis and Cleveland. Rallies also formed in Michigan, Maine, Georgia, Wisconsin and other states.

Thousands of people marched for a second night in Manhattan, gathering in Union Square before splitting into several smaller groups, chanting "No justice, No peace." Some held signs saying "Jail killer cops" and "Justice for Mike Brown."

One group marched uptown to Times Square, meandering between lanes of traffic as police followed. The protesters, who seemed to grow in number as the night wore on, disrupted traffic on the FDR Drive and congregated at the entrances to the Williamsburg and Manhattan bridges and the Queens Midtown Tunnel.

Commissioner William Bratton said police were giving protesters "breathing room."

"As long as they remain nonviolent, and as long as they don't engage in issues that cause fear or create vandalism, we will work with them to allow them to demonstrate," he said.

Protests have so far been large but mostly peaceful, with just two arrests, including that of a man who threw a jar of fake blood that struck Bratton on Monday.

Several hundred protesters also marched peacefully through nearby Newark, New Jersey.

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MINNEAPOLIS

A rally in Minneapolis turned scary when a car struck a protester and then burst through a pack of others who surrounded it. A woman suffered minor injuries.

Several hundred people had gathered Tuesday afternoon near the 3rd Precinct police outpost to show solidarity with Brown. The driver called police soon after to report the incident, and police spokesman John Elder said the incident was under investigation.

About 200 protesters gathered on the state Capitol steps in St. Paul and marched without incident.

CALIFORNIA

In Los Angeles, a few hundred protesters took to the streets, engaging police in a standoff at a freeway off-ramp and surrounding a Highway Patrol car in a tense scene in South Los Angeles.

To the north in Oakland, protests resumed a day after 43 people were arrested in a melee that escalated after some protesters shut down traffic on a major highway, police Chief Sean Whent said.

He said three officers were injured, including one who suffered a cut to the head after being hit by a brick.

"We will not tolerate assaults on our staff or vandalism and destruction," he said.

CLEVELAND

Several hundred people marched down a freeway ramp to block rush-hour traffic while protesting the Missouri developments and Saturday's fatal shooting by an officer of 12-year-old Tamir Rice of Cleveland, who had a pellet gun that looked like a real firearm.

"The system wasn't made to protect us," said one of the protesters, 17-year-old Naesha Pierce. "To get justice, the people themselves have to be justice."

Riot police arrested several demonstrators who sat in the middle of Interstate 44 near the Edward Jones Dome. They used pepper spray to disperse the crowd.

Demonstrators also swarmed the steps of the federal courthouse chanting, "You didn't indict! We shall fight!"

ELSEWHERE

Several hundred people from historically black schools Morehouse College and Clark Atlanta University in Georgia held peaceful demonstrations. But as the night wore on, some groups split off and tried to block a freeway, and police said some windows were broken.

Police said 21 people were arrested, mostly for failure to disperse when asked, but one person faces a weapons charge.

In Chicago, protesters who had hoped to spend the night inside City Hall left after most of the day when they were threatened with arrest.

In Portland, Oregon, a rally drew about 1,000 people who listened to speeches then marched through downtown. A splinter group of about 300 people kept going, marching across a Willamette River bridge into east Portland. Bus and light rail traffic was disrupted, and police used pepper spray and made several arrests.

Demonstrations in Washington, D.C., and Albuquerque, New Mexico, also blocked traffic at times but were generally peaceful.

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